brain engaged. Meanwhile, here's at him, with the antiphlogistic
touch;" and he opened his lancet-case, and tucked up his cuffs. "Houlde
the basin, Biddy."

"There, Harvey himself couldn't do it nater than that. It's an elegant
study to be feelin' a pulse while the blood is flowin'. It comes at
first like a dammed-up cataract, a regular out-pouring, just as a young
girl would tell her love, all wild and tumultuous; then, after a time,
she gets more temperate, the feelings are relieved, and the ardor is
moderated, till at last, wearied and worn out, the heart seems to ask
for rest; and then ye'll remark a settled faint smile coming over the
lips, and a clammy coldness in the face."

"He's fainting, sir," broke in Biddy.

"He is, ma'am, and it's myself done it," said Billy. "Oh, dear, oh,
dear! If we could only do with the moral heart what we can with the raal
physical one, what wonderful poets we 'd be!"

"What hopes have you?" whispered Harcourt.

"The best, the very best. There 's youth and a fine constitution to work
upon; and what more does a doctor want? As ould Marsden said, 'You can't
destroy these in a fortnight, so the patient must live.' But you must
help me, Colonel, and you _can_ help me."

"Command me in any way, Doctor."

"Here's the _modus_, then. You must go back to the Castle and find out,
if you can, what happened between his father and _him_. It does not
signify now, nor will it for some days; but when he comes to the
convalescent stage, it's then we 'll need to know how to manage him, and
what subjects to keep him away from. 'T is the same with the brain as
with a sprained ankle; you may exercise if you don't twist it; but just
come down once on the wrong spot, and maybe ye won't yell out!"

"You 'll not quit him, then."

"I'm a senthry on his post, waiting to get a shot at the enemy if
he shows the top of his head. Ah, sir, if ye only knew physic, ye 'd
acknowledge there 's nothing as treacherous as dizaze. Ye hunt him out
of the brain, and then he is in the lungs. Ye chase him out of that,
and he skulks in the liver. At him there, and he takes to the fibrous
membranes, and then it's regular hide-and-go-seek all over the body.
Trackin' a bear is child's play to it." And so saying, Billy held
the Colonel's stirrup for him to mount, and giving his most courteous
salutation, and his best wishes for a good journey, he turned and
re-entered the cabin.

CHAPTER XVI. THE "PROJECT"

It was